Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) films have been used widely in a number of promotional and advertising campaigns, such as outdoor graphics applications in the past. Such applications include signs, banners, fleet marketing graphics, architectural and wall covering, consumer product labeling and other pressure sensitive products. However, there is an increasing awareness on the environmental and health impacts and effects of using PVC based products, which has increased significantly in recent years. Currently, there is a movement to reduce or even eliminate PVC-based products from the consumer marketing, promotional and advertising product streams.
Films for outdoor marketing and graphics applications ideally should have at least some of the following properties: printability, durability, color retention, and scratch resistance. Conformability and proper mechanical properties such as tensile elongation and tensile strength are also preferable for the application process. A non-conformable film, i.e. a film which does not have sufficient elongation or flexibility may not follow the contour of the subject or surface to which it is applied, creating bubbles or gaps between the surface and the film. Insufficient elongation properties may make the film hard to apply over a surface, e.g. those surfaces that have curves, angles, ridges and other non-planar configurations, but too much elongation may deform the film and potentially causing a distortion of the printed indicia. Films with a low tensile strength may cause the film to break easily when being stretched such as when the film is being applied to a non-planar surface.
As new PVC replacement films are being developed, some of the films have superior performance in one area, such as printability, but lack adequate functionality with respect to the other properties such as the outdoor durability to make the films acceptable for the demanding advertising and promotional market. One possible way to resolve the foregoing problem is to use a multi-layer film laminate with each layer providing one or more of the desired properties so that the laminate has all the desired properties that are needed.
When used as the outermost protective layer in a film laminate, or simply used as a protective film for a given surface, good outdoor durability and in many cases optical transparency is also required so the indicia on an underneath printable layer can be visible.
Therefore, there is a need for non-PVC-based transparent films and non-PVC film laminates for use with outdoor graphics and other marketing and consumer use applications.